Blind Spencer (Mirror)
2002 - Photography (Photography)
61cm x 65.3cm
Douglas Gordon
Blind Spencer is part of the series “Blind Stars” including hundreds of works in which the artist cut out the eyes of Hollywood stars, in a symbolically violent manner. An emptiness (some are burned letting appear a white or mirror background or a mirror) replaces the eyes, giving the impression of a blind eye deprived of all expression. Paradoxically, the work looks at us all the more intensely. The glamorous black and white portrait of Spencer Tracy evokes the golden age of Hollywood, with all of its codes like seductive smiles and directional light, not to mention a perverse use of the gaze. Gordon talks about his work as a process of “research, memory, of stories that took place, the films I’ve seen … I am interested in looking for what happens when you look at something so long that it disappears. You are viewing an image, you start looking through the image, and you reach the other side and then you return to the surface. ” This act of cutting, pertinent to a new generation of artists focusing on the ready-made, image fragments and found sound footage, juxtaposes temporalities like in video editing and introduces a hint of melancholy. The act of cutting fascinates and repels, in what Freud called an experience of “the uncanny.” The viewer can only contemplate a loss of the soul which is traditionally reflected in the eyes. After Andy Warhol and his celebrity portraits, Douglas Gordon tracks the iconic and deadly character of his subjects.
Douglas Gordon is a celebrated Scottish artist whose work revolves around the themes of memory, time and our perception of it. Spanning across film, video, installation, photography, and sculpture, his work offers a new experience of the cinematic in the space of contemporary art, creating what critic Dominique Païni described as ‘exhibition cinema.’ Interested in how we experience temporality, Gordon has often slowed down either original or appropriated footage in order to play with the viewers’ perception. An example is his celebrated work 24 Hour Psycho (1993) , in which Gordon stretched the duration of Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic movie to last 24 hours. This gesture both monumentalized time and intensified the imagery, structurally reframing the film by shifting our perception away from the movie’s original narrative and directing it towards the finer details that constitute every single frame. Several of his works incorporate that universal dichotomies: of life and death, innocence and guilt, and dual identities. Harboring the tension between opposing forces, Gordon then employs formal strategies of repetition, mirroring, and doubling to construct a deliberate ambiguity and multiplicity of meaning.
Colors:
Related works of genres: » young british artists, » contemporary artist, » scottish contemporary artists, » photography, » neo-conceptual art, » video installation, » video art, » appropriation art, » born 1966, » relational art
» see more
© » KADIST
Martin Creed
2003This photograph of Martin Creed himself was used as the invitation card for a fundraising auction of works on paper at Christie’s South Kensington in support of Camden Arts Centre’s first year in a refurbished building in 2005...
© » TATE EXHIBITIONS
Martin Creed
Martin Creed | The Dick Institute Experience the work of one of this country’s most ingenious, audacious and surprising artists at the Dick Institute ARTIST ROOMS Martin Creed presents highlights from the British artist’s thirty-year career...
© » KADIST
Doug Aitken
2009The version of Frontier acquired by the Kadist Collection consists of a single-channel video, adapted from the monumental installation and performance that Aitken presented in Rome, by the Tiber River, in 2009...
Related works featuring themes of: » Appropriation Art, » Celebrity, » Color Photography, » Contemporary Conceptualism, » Scottish
» see more
© » KADIST
Mungo Thomson
2008The White Album (2008) presents a compilation of one hundred issues of Artforum magazine released between 1970 and 1979...
© » KADIST
Elad Lassry
2013In his composition, Chocolate Bars, Eggs, Milk, Lassry’s subjects are mirrored in their surroundings (both figuratively, through the chocolate colored backdrop and the brown frame; and literally, in the milky white, polished surface of the table), as the artist plays with color, shape, and the conventions of representational art both within and outside of the photographic tradition...
Other related works, blended automatically
» see more
© » KADIST
Douglas Gordon
1996In Monster (1996-97), the artist’s face becomes grotesque through the application of strips of transparent adhesive tape, typical of Gordon’s performance-based films that often depict his own body in action...
© » KADIST
Mungo Thomson
2008The White Album (2008) presents a compilation of one hundred issues of Artforum magazine released between 1970 and 1979...
© » KADIST
Hank Willis Thomas
2012Intentionally Left Blanc alludes to the technical process of its own (non)production; a procedure known as retro-reflective screen printing in which the image is only fully brought to life through its exposure to flash lighting...
Related works sharing similar palette
» see more
© » IGNANT
Crafted Elegance: Hendrick’s Gin And Artist Boris De Beijer Unveil Limited Edition Cocktail Glasses - IGNANT Words: IGNANT magazine Photographer: Clemens Poloczek Name Boris De Beijer Images Clemens Poloczek Words IGNANT magazine Hendrick’s Gin has joined forces with artist and glassblower Boris de Beijer for an exclusive partnership as part of this year’s festive campaign...
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Freehand artist Mr Doodle comes to Hong Kong on mission to ‘doodle the world’: Briton’s work on show at K11 Musea and Pearl Lam Galleries | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Art + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more British artist Sam Cox, better known as Mr Doodle, draws on a model spaceship at Hong Kong MTR station in Central, Hong Kong on November 19...
Related works from the » 2000's created around » Berlin, Germany
» see more
© » KADIST
Tino Sehgal
2004Tino Sehgal’s This Exhibition requires an interpreter (in this particular piece, a gallery attendant) to faux faint each and every time a visitor enters into a given space...
© » KADIST
Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck
2008Part of a larger series of photographic works, Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck’s Corrupted file from page 14 (V1) from the series La Vega, Plan Caracas No...
Other works by: » Douglas Gordon
» see more
© » KADIST
Douglas Gordon
1996In Monster (1996-97), the artist’s face becomes grotesque through the application of strips of transparent adhesive tape, typical of Gordon’s performance-based films that often depict his own body in action...
© » KADIST
Douglas Gordon
2004Douglas Gordon’s single-channel video The Left Hand Can’t See That The Right Hand is Blind, captures an unfolding scene between two hands in leather gloves—at first seemingly comfortable to be entwined, and later, engaged in a struggle...
Related artist(s) to: Douglas Gordon » Philippe Parreno, » Pierre Huyghe, » Liam Gillick, » Hans Ulrich Obrist, » Andy Warhol, » Rirkrit Tiravanija, » Anri Sala, » Bruce Nauman, » Carsten Höller, » Jimmie Durham
» see more
Related works found in the same semantic group
» see more
© » LITHUB
How Alien We Seem: On Being Blind and Obsessed with Photography ‹ Literary Hub Craft and Criticism Fiction and Poetry News and Culture Lit Hub Radio Reading Lists Book Marks CrimeReads About Log In Literary Hub Craft and Criticism Literary Criticism Craft and Advice In Conversation On Translation Fiction and Poetry Short Story From the Novel Poem News and Culture History Science Politics Biography Memoir Food Technology Bookstores and Libraries Film and TV Travel Music Art and Photography The Hub Style Design Sports Freeman’s The Virtual Book Channel Lit Hub Radio Behind the Mic Beyond the Page The Cosmic Library The Critic and Her Publics Emergence Magazine Fiction/Non/Fiction First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing Future Fables The History of Literature I’m a Writer But Just the Right Book Keen On The Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan New Books Network Read Smart Talk Easy Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast Write-minded Reading Lists The Best of the Decade Book Marks Best Reviewed Books BookMarks Daily Giveaway CrimeReads True Crime The Daily Thrill CrimeReads Daily Giveaway Log In How Alien We Seem: On Being Blind and Obsessed with Photography M...
© » KADIST
Jonas Van and Juno B
2021Jonas Van and Juno B’s video work Kebranto is anchored by the figure of Boitatá, a snake that is part of the imaginary Guaraní communities that live between the current nation-states of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay...
© » LENS SCRATCH
Inner Vision: Photography by Blind Artists: Karren Visser - LENSCRATCH Fine Art Photography Daily Subscribe / Contact / About Home Photographers Browse All Browse Alphabetically Browse by Genre Browse by Subject Browse by Place Browse by Process Features Publisher’s Spotlight The States Project Alaska Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Content Aware DEVELOPER Mixtapes Art and Science Competition: The Heart of the Matter Book Reviews Geometry In the Dark Insecta Magic Night The Natural World/Nature Women and Earth The Art of Healing Lenscratch Student Prize Winners 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 Notes from a Curator Exhibitions Interviews Articles Photographers on Photographers Resources Artist Residencies Calls For Entry Lenscratch Library Portfolio Reviews Photo Festivals Online Magazines Print Magazines Sites of Interest Organizations and Institutions Photography Charities Grants Submit About Submissions Submit to Lenscratch Exhibitions Submit To Art and Science Award Submit to Student Prize Submit Your Project Shop Home Photographers Browse All Browse Alphabetically Browse by Genre Browse by Subject Browse by Place Browse by Process Features Publisher’s Spotlight The States Project Alaska Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Content Aware DEVELOPER Mixtapes Art and Science Competition: The Heart of the Matter Book Reviews Geometry In the Dark Insecta Magic Night The Natural World/Nature Women and Earth The Art of Healing Lenscratch Student Prize Winners 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 Notes from a Curator Exhibitions Interviews Articles Photographers on Photographers Resources Artist Residencies Calls For Entry Lenscratch Library Portfolio Reviews Photo Festivals Online Magazines Print Magazines Sites of Interest Organizations and Institutions Photography Charities Grants Submit About Submissions Submit to Lenscratch Exhibitions Submit To Art and Science Award Submit to Student Prize Submit Your Project Shop Inner Vision: Photography by Blind Artists: Karren Visser by Karren Visser December 18, 2023 © Karren Visser, Autism in Africa, 2013...
© » LONDONIST
Paws On The Wharf Guide Dog Sculpture Trail | Londonist Paws On The Wharf: Free Guide Dogs Sculpture Trail Coming To London By Laura Reynolds Laura Reynolds Paws On The Wharf: Free Guide Dogs Sculpture Trail Coming To London Well, what do you make of that? A free art trail is coming to Canary Wharf in March, in support of charity Guide Dogs...